Super Branding for Super Schools--The Win!

Today the faithful gather. The most watched TV event of the year. The faithful to football, the faithful to partying, the faithful to TV will gather to watch Saints battle Colts on a Sunday evening.Eating 40 million pizzas nationwide. An even those not interested in the outcome of the game will pause from their chips, dips and salsa to watch the Super Brand celebration, The Superbowl Commercial.

The brand icons have for years plotted, planned and pitched to massive audiences in stylized commercials priced at $80,000 a second, that are designed to win brand loyalty. There's two Superbowls going on, the game of sport and the game of marketing.

This year, one of the iconic brands will be missing from the lineup. Pepsi has passed on the high price of reaching its audience to take a new tactic, a flea flicker of its own making. The brand is going online to support its new sub brand Pepsi Refresh, and have chosen the internet to reach superbowlers with its community minded message of support. So smart. The brands are seeing that the channels for reaching the consumer and spreading the world are changing.

As schools think about the need to brand and deliver their Super messages of excellence to improve culture and performance, take note of the changing face of sharing the word that Pepsi is living. Social networking gives new value. A consumer doesn't get to simply hear the message, but engages with the message and helps shapes the message. This is a way for schools to engage their"clients" as supporters. Thinking about the value that a school offers and the possibility for the community to help shape the brand of the school is innovative and worthy of conversation. Refresh your thinking as a school leader on this Superbowl day will an eye on the game of communication.